


Fading Out Tomorrow

by krembo



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Light Wireplay, M/M, Manipulation, Missing Scene, Set During Descent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:48:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21789292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krembo/pseuds/krembo
Summary: Lore laughed, unfazed, seemingly as comfortable in Data’s grip as he had been ordering around the Borg. “Relax, brother,” he said. “I just need to switch a few settings to get us on the same wavelength. You barely got a taste of real emotion. I want to give you all of it.”
Relationships: Data/Lore
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41
Collections: Star Trek Holidays 2019





	Fading Out Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flowerdeluce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerdeluce/gifts).



The Borg soldier Crosis stared at Data for the entire duration of their walk from the shuttle pod to the series of pale rounded structures that the Borg had apparently commandeered as their base of operations on the planet, his organic eye fixed on Data's face as he led him to their promised destination.

For his part, Data merely stared ahead, glancing from side to side at pseudorandom intervals to note their surroundings in greater depth. He identified his surroundings as biotype 6A - Earthlike chaparral, though a visual analysis of the flora indicated various differences from any plant life in his databanks. Other than the plants, the only native life he detected was insectoid in nature and unlikely to be sentient. Were the Borg deliberately avoiding contact with sentient life outside of their attacks?

“Why did you choose this planet?” Data asked. 

“I did not choose this planet,” Crosis said, expression flat and unchanging. “The one did.”

Data asked no further questions. Crosis had not been forthcoming with details about "the one" on board the _Enterprise_ , though Data had long since reached a conclusion about who it almost certainly had to be.

There were more Borg at the entrance to their structure, and even more inside the giant, cavernous hall. They swarmed over it like ants, movements routine and orderly but still organic despite their efforts to the contrary. Crosis finally tore his gaze from Data and joined them, slotting into their work seamlessly. Data noted them all, making sure to catalogue any distinguishing features of each Borg, before his attention caught on one figure in the center.

The floor was smooth and unslanted, but somehow it seemed as if Lore were elevated regardless, obvious as a beacon in the center of the room. He stood still as the Borg marched around him, watching them with his arms folded. Occasionally they approached him, heads tilted down deferentially, and he gave them orders before dismissing them, obviously confident that what he said would be done. 

He looked much like he had in Dr. Soong’s home when Data had last seen him, though now he wore all black, his uniform padded like armor. He was not visibly injured and he seemed calmer, perhaps more in control of himself despite Dr. Soong’s warnings of what the emotion chip might do to him. When he looked up, his face assumed the expression that Data had learned meant “pleasant surprise” on his coworkers, as if he had not planned every aspect of this meeting. “Data!” He said, smiling, spreading his arms open. “Come over here.” 

Data went, stopping just out of Lore’s reach. Lore didn’t seem to mind, closing the distance himself. His arms moved in; Data thought they might embrace him, but instead, Lore cupped his face. 

Lore’s fingers felt cold against his bioplast sheeting as they stroked down his cheek contemplatively. There was an emotion in his eyes, but Data couldn’t read it; despite having put in more than 10,000 hours of work analyzing faces he had recorded, he still experienced difficulty in reading expressions. Still, he met Lore’s gaze with his own as the Borg continued moving around them. He was aware of how they must look from the outside: mirror images, alike in every way, except that Lore was smiling and Data was not. 

Then Data felt something in his chest – something that seemed expansive, for all that it was small. A trickle of pleasure, sent straight from his brother, that for some reason made him shiver under Lore’s hands. Whatever the look in his eyes meant, Lore was genuinely happy to see him. And, with Lore feeding him emotions, Data was genuinely happy back. 

He wondered what he might have felt if his emotions were his own. Dr. Crusher had told him that brothers forgave each other. Data had researched the concept of forgiveness extensively and been intrigued by the idea of letting go of negative emotion, but he had never been able to forgive Lore because he had no negative emotions to let go of – not until Lore gave them to him. “Lore,” he said, and he could tell it sounded different from how he usually said people’s names, but not why. 

Lore knew what it meant, somehow. He understood emotions in a way Data never had. His smile grew edges. “My dear brother,” he said. “Let’s talk.” He began walking backwards while keeping one hand against Data’s face, his arm like a leash between them, and Data followed. 

“You made me angry when I fought the Borg,” Data said as they walked deeper into Lore’s facility, the Borg parting around them to let them pass. Gradually he saw fewer and fewer of them until eventually he and Lore were alone. They were in a smaller chamber now, though its walls were still forbiddingly tall. Data thought it might have been a meeting room at one point; there was an octagonal table sitting in the center with chairs at only three of its sides.

Lore laughed, tapping his fingers against Data's cheek without dropping his arm. “You’re welcome,” he said. “Did you like it?” Data hesitated. Lore did not. “You did, didn’t you? That’s just excellent, brother. I always knew you had it in you.” 

“It was the first time I felt anything,” Data said, though he himself did not know whether it was a defense or a confession. Lore’s gaze on him sharpened. 

“Let me tell you a secret,” he said, leaning in, cheek to cheek, brushing his own fingers on Data’s chin. “It’s always as good as the first time. You’re going to feel like that every time.” 

His breath was warm against Data’s ear. This close, Data could hear his servos whirring. 

Data knew he should be analyzing Lore's demeanor, his behavior, anything about him that might help Data understand Lore's plan. It was both his duty as a Starfleet officer and what he was programmed to do. But somehow, around Lore, he found it difficult to do what he was programmed to do without error or deviation. Lore had always had that effect on him, but this close, it was even worse.

Then Lore released him, hand finally dropping as he leaned backwards against the table, smiling his dangerous smile. “You do want to feel like that every time, don’t you?” He asked. “That’s what you’re here for, after all.”

Data hesitated, remembering the way his crewmates had looked at him after he’d killed the Borg soldier. But Counselor Troi had told him that emotions weren’t positive or negative. He trusted her expertise. And he couldn’t deny the truth when it had already brought him this far. “Yes,” he said. “That is what I want.” 

“That can be easily arranged,” Lore said, still smiling. “I just need you to do something for me.”

“You wish for me to assist you in weaponizing the Borg against the Federation,” Data said. “I cannot and will not do so.” 

“Nothing so complicated,” Lore said. “Here, sit.” 

Data stared at him for a moment, past experiences making him cautious, but he could find no reason not to comply. He sat in the nearest chair, right before Lore. Lore did not, and as he stood over Data, Data experienced a brief moment of memory overlap – a glimpse of the time Kivas Fajo had stood over him like this, possessive and triumphant, sure he could bend Data to his will. 

Data’s eyes blinked after a pseudorandom interval and the overlap vanished. It was only Lore standing above him, still wearing that self-assured smile. “This won’t hurt a bit,” he said, and opened up the panel at Data's temple.

Without thinking, Data’s hands shot up to grip Lore’s wrists, grabbing hard enough to bruise a human and hard enough to drag Lore even closer. Their eyes met and locked, Lore’s nose almost bumping against Data’s forehead.

Lore laughed, unfazed, seemingly as comfortable in Data’s grip as he had been ordering around the Borg. “Relax, brother,” he said. “I just need to switch a few settings to get us on the same wavelength. You barely got a taste of real emotion. I want to give you all of it.” 

“I doubt your intentions are honorable, or as straightforward as you have made them seem,” Data said. Lore’s face twisted. “There are thirty-seven components accessible from that panel. Given your actions thus far, it is most likely that you are attempting to – ” 

He felt something then, something that made him clench his jaw without meaning to and tighten his grip on Lore. It wasn’t like the warmth of pleasure at all, but a spike of something tense and unpleasant.

Analyzing Lore’s expression, it was likely irritation. Data hadn’t known being irritated could feel like this – he hadn’t known how it would feel at all. It was almost like anger, but not quite. It made him want to respond, to squeeze Lore's wrists as he'd squeezed the neck of the Borg he'd killed. Instead, Data felt his hands drop to his sides without his permission. A subroutine noted that that shouldn't happen, sending him a persistent alert, but Data was too distracted by the irritation to give it appropriate attention. There was something mesmerizing about feeling anything at all. It was powerful and disorienting, and he was helpless against it.

“You talk too much,” Lore said, and reached into Data’s head. 

Where Data would have been methodical, Lore took his time, dragging his fingers over capacitors and thumbing wires. The accessible circuitry there was densely-packed but well-ordered, a natural place to start for repairs. But Data had never felt like this during repairs, tingling every time and every place Lore touched him, some sensation building up in his abdomen and making him even more sensitive to the intimate touch of Lore's fingers. Anticipation? 

Every emotion felt like a flood. He didn’t have the emotion chip to help him process it all, so he could only hang on, struggling as his programming attempted to reassert itself. Alert after alert told him that these feelings were not to be trusted, that even if this was not in and of itself wrong, it would certainly lead to something wrong. 

“Lore,” Data said, and didn’t know why. 

“Shhh,” Lore whispered, but his fingers stopped their slow exploration inside Data, stilling entirely for a moment before Lore quickly jammed his hand into something. 

Data heard the click a moment before his system told him a connection had been established, and then his vision went red. 

Proper protocol for unauthorized modifications to his routines was to disengage as quickly as possible. Had Data authorized this by following Lore’s commands, even when he knew what must be coming? Perhaps, but Lore was dangerous. Data had a duty to stop this. He reached for Lore’s shoulders, intending to throw him off – 

Data’s vision flickered again. He gripped Lore’s shoulders, but only to stabilize himself as he felt his breath start to come out in ragged gasps. 

Something was flowing over him, warm like pleasure but sharper. _Triumph,_ Data realized as he felt a smile come to his lips. He was – they were – triumphant. They had conquered something, together. 

Lore smiled down at him tenderly, disconnecting from Data’s port but keeping the panel open, leaving Data's vulnerable circuitry exposed to the air. His hand slid down Data’s neck to his chest, fingers splayed, a wave of something hot and powerful coming over Data, something simultaneously darker and deeper than either anger or pleasure but related to both - a simultaneous desire to possess and destroy, to have and to guarantee no one else could have ever again.

Data felt himself tremble under Lore's hands and his own emotions - Lore's emotions, _their_ emotions. Lore watched him, the shared feeling only growing more powerful as Data kept breathing hard without knowing why.

“That ethical subroutine of yours was such a bother,” Lore said. “Isn’t it better without it?” 

Data was panting, mouth open, staring up at Lore as he had never stared at anyone, feeling simultaneously more and less in control of himself than he ever had before. His hands slid down Lore’s shoulders to cover the hand Lore had on him, pressing it closer, feeling the pressure as something more than pressure, feeling Lore’s attention as something _more_. 

A desire to possess and destroy. It was Lore’s, but it was Data’s now, too.

“Yes,” Data whispered, voice hoarse. “ _Yes_.”


End file.
